Polen Capital, an investment management company, released its “Polen Global SMID Company Growth” third quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the third quarter, the fund returned 7.41 (gross) and 7.40% (net) compared to a 9.37% return for the MSCI ACWI SMID Net Index. Negative stock selection and sector and country allocation led the portfolio to underperform in the quarter. Despite volatile market sentiments, global small and mid-cap equities posted gains in the third quarter. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.

Polen Global SMID Company Growth highlighted stocks like Tetra Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEK), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Tetra Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEK) is a consulting and engineering services provider that operates through two segments, Government Services Group (GSG) and Commercial/International Services Group (CIG). The one-month return of Tetra Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEK) was -16.78%, and its shares gained 22.20% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On November 20, 2024, Tetra Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEK) stock closed at $40.22 per share with a market capitalization of $10.769 billion.

Polen Global SMID Company Growth stated the following regarding Tetra Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEK) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:

"We initiated a new position inTetra Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEK), an environmental consulting business we've followed in our library for several years. Tetra Tech is focused on water and water infrastructure-related consulting and is a significant player in environmental, renewable energy, sustainable infrastructure, and international development. The company has a long history of consistent growth and solid returns on capital. About 30% of the revenue comes from long term projects from the federal government, another 11% from state and local, and a portion from disaster response and international aid. This provides some ballast to the company's demand, also driven by commercial projects. Between significant infrastructure spending, the potential for widespread PFAS cleanup PFAS (per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances are a large group of man-made chemicals used in various industrial and consumer products since the 1950s), water scarcity, and changing environmental conditions, we believe the demand backdrop for Tetra Tech is improving, creating an attractive investment opportunity."

An energy executive observing a wind turbine farm from a remote location.

Tetra Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEK) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 39 hedge fund portfolios held Tetra Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEK) at the end of the third quarter which was 37 in the previous quarter. In the fiscal fourth quarter, Tetra Tech, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:TTEK) revenue was $1.37 billion, an increase 9% from last year. While we acknowledge the potential of Tetra Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEK) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.